NCAA volleyball: Greeny leaves WSU for WVU; Lauenstein, Lovett have new teams
Jen Greeny celebrates with her Washington State team after beating Washington last month/Ashley Davis photo
We have the first major surprise hire of the NCAA volleyball offseason.
West Virginia announced Wednesday its new coach will be Jen Greeny, the former Washington State star who took her alma mater to national prominence as the head coach the past 13 years.
“We are very excited for a new venture and we will build something great,” Greeny told us.
It comes on the heels of a busy couple of days for the Division I transfer portal. Among the notables, former Nebraska standout Whitney Lauenstein, out of volleyball the past year and who had a baby, going to Texas; and Georgia getting Erykah Lovett, who was third in kills for Tennessee this season.
And the final AVCA top 25 came out after Texas won the NCAA title on Sunday.
Greeny to West Virginia
Jen Greeny grew up in Davenport, Washington, where she was one of the greatest small-school basketball players in state history. Then she played volleyball at Washington State (1995-98), where she became one of the best players in program history. After that, Greeny coached at Lewis-Clark State College in nearby Lewiston, Idaho, before returning to WSU in Pullman. So this will be her first venture outside the Pacific Northwest.
“The athletic director, Wren Baker, just wouldn’t take no for an answer,” Greeny said. “I think that shows their commitment to building a quality program and competing in the Big 12 Conference.”
At WSU, her Cougars went to the last eight NCAA Tournaments and this season finished 26-8, 14-6 in the Pac-12. WSU lost in the third round of the NCAA Tournament to Pittsburgh.
Greeny has an overall record of 347-199, 235-175 at Washington State.
West Virginia finished 9-22 last season, 2-16 in the Big 12. Reed Sunahara resigned after nine seasons.
Washington State is, along with Oregon State, left in limbo after the imploding of the Pac-12. They are two big programs basically without a conference and Greeny said that weighed heavily in her decision process.
“It’s bittersweet both ways,” Greeny said, “but I feel like we’ve done all we can do here. We definitely left it better than we found it.”
Greeny’s husband, Burdette, her associate head coach and recruiting coordinator, will join her in West Virginia. Greeny said she didn’t know if former WSU teammate and assistant coach Shannon Hunt, who has been at Greeny’s side throughout, will make the move.
The biggest opening is at Northwestern, where Shane Davis resigned after eight years at the Big Ten school.
Among the other Division openings are Air Force, Miami (Ohio), Nevada and Coastal Carolina, where interim head coach Steve Loeswick is likely to stay on.
Players on the move
The season ended Sunday with Texas winning it all and Tuesday the Longhorns had a new player. Whitney Lauenstein, who played two years at Nebraska before walking away from the program after the 2022 season, announced on Instagram that she will play at Texas. Lauenstein, a 6-2 right side from Waverly, Nebraska, said simply, “The family is moving to Texas!”
In 2022, when Nebraska lost in the third round of the NCAA Tournament, Lauenstein had 297 kills, second only to Madi Kubik, and had 114 blocks, second only to Kaitlyn Hord.
This past July she and Luke Partridge became parents of Layla Ryan.
It continues a trend of players going from one of those schools to the other. Among them, Lexi Sun from Texas to Nebraska, Keonilei Akana and Kayla Caffey from Nebraska to Texas. Akana served the match-winning point that gave Texas the 2022 national title.
Erykah Lovett, who will be a senior, has left Tennessee and will play at Georgia. The 5-11 outside is from Newnan, Georgia. Last season, she had 239 kills, third best for Tennessee, and was second in digs with 296(3.05/set).
“Erykah has established herself as one of the SEC’s top outside hitters and we are thrilled to welcome her back to her home state,” Georgia coach Tom Black said. “She’s going to do great things in her final year, and we can’t wait to help her pursue those goals. It’s an exciting day for our program.”
This will be Lovett’s third school. She started at Long Beach State in 2021 before playing the past two years at Tennessee.
Creighton is getting Penn State’s Maddy Bilinovic. The 5-7 libero from Independence, Ohio, was fourth on the Nittany Lions this season with 213 digs.
AVCA final poll
Not surprisingly, Texas moved up from No. 5 to No. 1 in the final AVCA Division I Women’s Volleyball Poll.
Nebraska, which had been No. 1 most of the season and lost to the Longhorns in the title match, were No. 2. Wisconsin, Pittsburgh and Stanford followed.
Click here for the complete AVCA final poll.
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